What is Manifest?
Manifest is a detailed list of goods usually provided to an air, sea, or ground shipping carrier. Metrics such as weight, dimensions, seller name, product value, destinations, and sealing label codes are listed. Primarily, the shipping manifest is used to monitor and identify the loss of goods during various shipping life cycles.
Significance of Manifest in an E-commerce Shipping and Delivery
A shipping manifest is essential to e-commerce logistics as it allows carriers to monitor shipments and know delivery methods. The significant benefits of a shipping manifest have been listed and explained below:
- Better matching and redirection: Adding a shipping manifest allows different carriers to work in tandem to match and verify the products before taking ownership. Information such as destination addresses also smoothens the shipping process in each phase.
- Identify tampering and loss: The intermediate managers in shipping cycles can monitor and identify a misplaced product and take the necessary actions.
Prerequisites of Manifest and How It Works
Manifest is mainly used when several products are being sent out in consignments. Usually, a shipping company’s creation and use of a manifest are accomplished in the following ways.
- Listing and labeling: All the products in the consignment/container are listed, and crucial information such as
- Document number
- Merchandise description
- Means of transport
- Shipping route
- The number of items to transport, and others.
- Disbursal and verification: The container is then sent out. The manifest is used to verify the contents whenever a carrier changes.
Use Case With Manifest
A shipping company groups 150 products from eight sellers in a single container. Compiles all the necessary information in a manifest and subsequently dispatches the container.
The carrier uses all these details available on the manifest to generate an invoice for shipment. They can also use a shipping manifest to check if the merchandise matches the document.